Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Richard Salit
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- According to a study by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Rhode Island is short 27,000 volunteers, ranking it 41st in the nation for its overall volunteer rate and 46th for its overall volunteer hours.

Now two nonprofit agencies dedicated to promoting volunteerism are merging to create one statewide organization and they hope to address the shortage of volunteers.

The merger between the Volunteer Center of Rhode Island and Serve Rhode Island was formally announced today when the two organizations held a news conference at 3 p.m. at the State House. Since the names of both organizations are well established, part of each name will remain. The umbrella organization will be called Serve Rhode Island and it will oversee an operation to be called the Volunteer Center at Serve Rhode Island.

"We were a little surprised," said communications and development director Kim Stowell, when asked about the survey results.

Each of the organizations will give up its current headquarters and move to a new location on Broadway in March, she said.

Two new programs will be started. Serve Corps will provide a resource for nonprofit organizations that are struggling to provide services with scarcer resources. In doing so, it aims to recruit at least 20,000 more volunteers in Rhode Island.

Another program, Service Bridge to Work, will strive to place 380 unemployed R.I. Works clients into volunteer positions to train them in skills that might help them land jobs. It will also help them avoid the loss of assistance, which requires recipients to look for work and meet other requirements, including performing 20 hours of community service a week.

 Tags  Rhode Island Volunteer Center of Rhode Island volunteering volunteers

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